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tv   Greta Van Susteren  FOX News  October 11, 2012 1:00am-2:00am EDT

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>> i think so. by the way, part 1, 250 theaters. we are opening in well over a thousand theaters. >> sean: i did okay. what's my grade? >> you -- you -- you were a 9. >> i want to bring him back for part 3. >> sean: i am taking you up on that. see you tomorrow night. >> greta: tonight, a prize fight, a vegas casino mogul, taking on president obama. >> i will be damned if i want him to lecture me about small business and jobs. i'm a job creator. guys like me don't like a bull's-eye painted on our back. >> greta: steve wynn has a lot more. and you will hear it all. the fwluf gloves about to come off in kentucky, vice-president joe biden versus congressman paul ryan. dick morris looks ahead to the debate. why wasn't there enough security at our libya consulate on september 11? the congress grilled the state
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department and the white house continues to dodge the issue. why the dodge? coverup or incompetence? >> initial assessments in the immediate aftermath of the attack in benghazi were made. and it was a government-wide assessment, the foundation of what ambassador right rice said and others said, with the limited faces that we had available to us at that time. >> let's understand, there was no protest. and cameras reveal that and the state department, the fbi and others have that video. speaking of video, the one in california made by an individual and out there for a period of time, also clearly had no direct effect on this attack. >> when i was in libya, good part of the day, never once did a person ever mention a video. never. and i am fascinated to know and understand from the president of the united states, from the secretary of state and from the
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ambassador to the united nations, how they can justify that this video caused this attack. it was a terrorist attack. >> this is a huge story. because you have the state department now basically saying that obamma was lying, that jay carney was lying, that hillary clinton was lying and susan rice was lying and anybody else from the regime who went out and tried to blame what happened to our ambass dar at benghazi and in cairo on this video, were lying, big lifetime. >> obama, shortly after the attack, told "60 minutes" that regarding mitt romney's response to the attacks, specifically in egypt, the president said that romney has a tendency to shoot first and aim later. given the fact that so much was made out of the video, that apparently has absolutely nothing to do with the attack on benghazi, that there wasn't even
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a protest outside of benghazi post, didn't president obama shoot first and aim later? >> first of all, jake, i think your assessment of what we know now is not complete. this is a moving picture. and people who on the night of an attack, or the day after claim they know all the facts... without making clear that what we know is based on preliminary information, are not being straight. and they're, in some cases, trying to politicize a situation that should not be politicized. >> given the information that you saw on tv and your knowledge of the situation in libya, did you come to a conclusion as to whether this was a terrorist act, or whether it was based on some film that was on the internet? >> it was instantly recognizable to me as a terrorist attack. >> it's ciefd more or less
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established in libya since our involvement. >>? >> yes, sir, they are more established than we are. >> where in the heck where we before 9/11, this 9/11? why weren't we questioning it then? 230 security incidents in libya between june of 2011 and june of 2012. two were in terror attacks and we are saying i think it's the rule of a video on youtube. i am going to tell you, this thing smells. from every single angle -- it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. >> let's look at what ambassador rice herself said. our current assessment is that what happened in benghazi was... quote, in fact, initially a pontaneous reaction. i don't know what the phrase in fact means in diplomatic legalese, i can tell what you it means in a courtroom.
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mr. chairman, it means it's a fact. >> greta: did the hearing answer the burning question, why can't the obama administration get its story straight? former u.n. ambassador john bolton is here. so, are you satisfied? >> no, look, the administration made up its mind what the reality was, whether it was engagedin a coverup, whether it was ideology that dominated the view, whether it was incompetence, at this point, we don't know the answer to that. but we know one thing, unmistakeably. they were flatly wrong. they got it wrong before the attack, they got it wrong after the attack. they are getting it wrong now. so we psychoanalyze them all we want, but this is a demonstration, these people cannot be left in the same room with national security. >> greta: you say they are getting wrong, they have got it wrong, but it's more than that. why are they still dog it? why are they still trying to sell us that? jay carney today, in the statements he made today,
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initial assessment and the immediate aftermath of the attack in benghazi were made, it was a government-wide assessment that the foundation of what ambassador rice said, was the video. that is patently wrong, last night the state department said in a conference call, there was nothing niewsh, no protest that day, so why jay carney is pushing that today. and if you wonder if that's just the state department saying that last night. go to the testimony today and you find out from the testimony today by the state department, they were having conversations with the embassy that night, in real time. so for what is jay carney -- why is he still doing this? >> i think it's the president's view that it was the video. that's why i think it's ideology. look, i understand people say the administration's lying, this is a coverup. for the sake of our country, i wish i could believe it were a coverup buzz that would acknowledge that they understood reality. it was inconvenient and they were trying to obscure it. i fear it's more the ideology --
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>> greta: but ideology has to stem from some sort of facts. there is no fact to suggest that the video -- had had anything to do with the video in the state department. they say, at 8:30 at night when the ambassador went outside, there is nothing unusual. there has been nothing unusual during the day all outside. where does president obama get the video there? >> let's ask this question. how many communication was going on from the state department to the white house? before the white house started talking through jay carny and through others and through, as carney says, the administrationwide assessment, you know how long that takes? only one person has to say what his assessment is. >> greta: i mean, the state department knew on the night of september 11 that there was no protest, there was no video. that this was an attack. then have you the president as deep into it as september 18, going on letterman, still pushing that, which he said that what also happened was extremists and terrorists used
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this, meaning the video, as an excuse to attack the variety of embassies, including libya. the director of terrorism center on the 19th, testifies before congress, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack. has anybody phoned up the president? >> there is a pattern here. this comes from the president. the day after the attack, patrick kennedy, who briefed the hill, they thought it was a terrorist attack, everybody except the president seems to be getting the point at some stage, except those who work directly for him, who want to. so when you say, where is this problem coming from? it all points to the president. you can criticize susan rice all you want. i know some republicans have called for her to recipe, it is not her fault -- >> greta: but i think, if you say that it's the president ideology for basically making this up, since there is no facts to suggest it -- >> the war on terrorism is over, al qaeda's been defeated. sweetness and light have broken out in libya -- >> greta: no, no, no.
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but the more sinister view because he said at the democratic convention, essentially al qaeda isurn control and to the fund-raisers in san francisco a couple of nights ago that al qaeda is on its heel, he want its to look like for the election that he is winning the war on terrorism. i would rather have him say it's ideology. the problem he has, there is testimony today by one of the witnesses that said that al qaeda's in libya and it's growing. >> yeah. i don't think he can process that reality. i take a different view. i would rather it was a coverup because that indicates a greater proximity to the real world. but i think in his ideological world that as gene kirkpatrick once said, the blame america first mentality. it was that video. we provoked those poor people -- blame america, don't blame them. once the president gets in that drill, he has found it very hard to stop talking about anything other than the video. he can't break free from it. here's another question, though. other than a few preliminary
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remarks by hillary clinton, also on the video point, where has she been? i still think the great unanswered question is why she wasn't on those five sunday shows -- >> greta: i think she knew better. i think she she knew better and she was wasn't going to say it's the video when it wasn't. let me say one other thing, whether it's ideology or political reasons -- bog are lousy. >> they're wrong. >> greta: they are wrong. i agree with that. >> it's a tragedy and a debauchle and a massive administration failure. >> greta: thank you, sir. >> it is obvious to everyone, but apparently the obama administration, house oversight committee share chair, darrell ice awhen your ambassador is mured -- murdered on 9/11,s -- it's probably terrorism. we spoke to congressman issa. did you learn today anything about the security that concerns you? >> it does. what concerns us is that the screer professionals on ground were saying -- this is multiple professionals over time, that
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they didn't have the resources or they were losing the resources they needed to protect their diplomatic missions. and ultimately, those warnings were not heeded and resources were cut down to the level of september 11. >> greta: how were the warnings? were they as blunt as this is really serious, we are unsafe, and you better send something fast or is it like, things are getting rugged here and we are getting a little concerned? >> some of the diplomatic correspondents from the ambassador himself described a deteriorating situation t. described a continued problems. it described the volatile nature. they were in actual cables. but more importantly, they were reporting on an almost successful attempt to murder the ambassador, the successful looting of the tukneesian consulate in benghazi. 234 separate attacks, and i think oddly enough, ambationz dorkennedy said, only 20% of them were in benghazi.
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now, 20% of 234 sounds like an awful lot of violent attacks. and it was. >> greta: al qaeda. there was a question put to a guest about al qaeda. i'd al qaeda in libya. what is the status. >> al qaeda's in libya, our career professionals say they are stronger stronger stronger . we didn't have any ambiguity in the remarks there. that's part of what these cables tell, many of which have not been released by the state department yet. ultimately, al qaeda is getting a foothold through allied organizations, some of whom have the cover of the government. >> greta: is al qaeda growing approximate? we are following everything in the campaign right now, three or four days ago, president obama did fund-raisers in san francisco and said that al qaeda is on its heels, meaning we are having some really good work and putting them back. the evidence -- the testimony today sparked my interest that they said it's growing. >> when you have an organization in a country like libya, libyan
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nationals, willing to work with and do the bidding of al qaeda, that means they're not on their heels in that country. if ultimately, you could eliminate all the global al qaeda people, great. but it's not that kind of organization. it is an organization with real chapters in egypt, libya, in afghanistan, and iraq. those chapters can operate in coordination or independently as they did in libya. >> greta: has congress denied any requests from the state department for money to beef up security at our embassies? >>ant at all. we didn't get into the general accountability report that showed a tremendous waste and need for a comprehensive review, particularly as the security and the budget they were operating on, on september 11, had a majority of democrat, 149 democrats and 147 republicans, bipartisan by any stasheds, voted for that funding that they are living on today. >> greta: one of the sort of...
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startling piece of information today on the phone call that the staffers had with the mede yark the state department was monitoring this event in benghazi in real time, receiving phone calling, started at 9:40 p.m., and the state department was monitoring it. the state department said there was no information, no suggestion that there were protests. now, protest is what the obama administration, white house has said in the beginning, that led -- because of a video. so completely different story. you agree? >> absolutely. that's one of the sad parts about this. you had a real terrorist attack, all the signs were clear. now with a lot of finger-pointing, ultimately, the administration is still trying to cling to that precious week of implying that things were okay, it was just an incited video from somebody in los angeles, nothing could be further from the truth. >> greta: i don't get it though. what do they get out of pushing a story that from the beginning,
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seemed peculiar. we have all lived through 9/11. it's our embassy and an attack. it seems it has all the earmarks of terrorism. there was no information, even our state department monitoring it, that there was a protest about a video. why would the white house in the early day, including ambassador rice, why push that story? >> it wasn't necessarily the early days, this was the whole week they pushed this wrong story. we were baffled. the only explaining we have heard from people is, in fact, that they were hoping to deflect the fact that conditions are bad. conditions were so bad in libya they had upped the hazardous pay to our foreign service officers, all the time we were reducing the appearance of security. they were eliminating the size of convoy, they were doing everything to try to make it look like we were peaceful, while they were paying for because the risk was high. >> greta: are you suspicious that it's incompetence in terms -- or misinformation and
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confusion? or do you think it's a coverup? >> i am concerned for both. if it's a coverup, it's bad policy and bad politics coming right out of the oval office. if on the other hand, it's incompetence and it's bad leadership over four years or more, something that president bush prided himself on... love president bush or not and vice-president cheney focused on improving our security footprint for our men and women here and around the world. that's important. we need to maintain that competence. i hope we can turn it around. that way, i hope it's not actually politics with american lives. >> greta: which do you think more, confusion and misinformation or the possibility of a coverup? >> i think everyone on the day, including democratic colleagues found it hard to believe that confusion lasted a week. some tried to defend it. some stayed away from it. i believe it couldn't have lasted seven days the wait administration would have you believe. >> greta: congressman, thank you. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, the vice-presidential showdown,
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congressman ryan says vice-president biden has achilles heel. what is it? congressman ryan answers that and dick morris is here to talk about the big debate. and casino developer steve wynn comes out swinging at president obama, saying he will be damned if he wants the president to lecture him. hear what else he has to say. governor chris christie making predictions. predictions. what is it in sfiend out. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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>> >> greta: there is so much at stake for both tickets, less than 24 hours with the vice-presidential debate stage. can congressman ryan keep up with governor rom ne's post-debate mome ?um can vice-president biden make up for president obama's debate disaster? today, congressman ryan speaking about the kentucky showdown. >> joe biden's been on this stage before. it's my first time. but what he can't run from is president obama's indefensible record. >> greta: dick morris, author of the book, here come the black helicopters, joins us. nice to see you. >> good to be here. >> greta: tomorrow night, less
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than 24 hours away. tell me your thoughts on the debate? >> well, it comessa a very important time in the election. romney not only won they and bait last week, but his bounce has bounced, in the past 2 or 3 days, there is evidence that he is actually moved up in the polls, even more than he did in the immediate aftermath of the debate. i just saw a poll that was taken in pennsylvania, by a polling firm i trust, john mclaughlin that shows that romney is defeating obama in pennsylvania by 49-forty46. smith's running very close to casey for the senate. ryan needs to keep that momentum up approximate this election could be over. i think the big thing is the contrast between the politician and a policy person. a young person and an old person. i think on both scores, ryan will really help romney.
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we have to realize how much of obama's appeal is generational. when you you are putting on a v.p. debate with a 25 or 25-year, i guess, difference in age, and one who is kind of a haggard regular old-time bomb baftic politician, and the other, a very incisive, sharp, focused policy person, i think that you really are going to see ryan have a tremendous edge. the other thing is that ryan wrote the romney program. this is not just a candidate for v.p., his the intellectual leader of the republican party today. for him to be up there debating in a political debate is like, you know, it's like mickey mantle coming to bat because he -- he wrote all of these programs. he knows these budgets. he knows these figures and biden is only vaguely aqaipted with them. i think ryan is going to do extremely well and that will be
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decisive. i think we are looking now at a whole new band of states coming into play, michigan, pennsylvania, new jersey. a bunch of states that nobody would have thought near play. >> greta: all right. you say he will be decisive and you expect congressman ryan to do well. what if, instead, that it's a tie? essentially both gentlemen do about the same, no one dazzles anybody and everybody walks away, saying no one killed the other one. >> that has to help romney. he is on the surge. he is the one who is moving. but you know, greta, i am beginning to wonder, just tonight, if the romney move in the last couple of days is debate bounce or libya pull. i think that the white house tripping over itself on this coverup stuff and the state department's obvious neglect of protecting its own diplomats and hillary's being a.w.o.l. is really hurting the administration. and it might be that it's pulling romney up.
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>> greta: you know, for the security -- ien mean, obviously we have four americans murdered, terrible tragedies, their families are destroyed, everything about that. but when you have a dangerous assignment that happens to be the risk. i think there is a loof pain to go around. the fact that the administration, though, isn't giving the straight story and seems to be stepping all over each other and pushing, that, i would suspect would be a greater political problem. why don't they tell us what happened? >> why did they lie to us ifr for a week -- >> greta: you tell me! >> cut an ad and run it in pakistan, blaming the video and apologizing for it. as opposed to condemning the terror attack that it was. the answer is that there are two things that are holding obama up. the g.m. victory, where we only lost $30 billion, and the killing of bin laden. and he was afraid that this terror attack would take away the securities issue from him that he is winning because of
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bin laden. so he covered it up and tried to make it a response to an inflammatory video. it's a coverup. >> greta: well, it certainly is perflexing at best. dick, thank you. >> i have a new book coming out, yesterday, here come the black helicopters. it is about the united nations imposing taxes on the united states, through a treaty with the obama administration. that's the move that i think is coming up in november and december. i want to alert people to it. >> greta: well, they're now alerted. thank you, dick. coming up, casino developer steve wynn is boiling mad at president obama and it's all caught on tape. he is taking the president to the wood shed. here from him next. and president obama had a horrible debate. but that is not stopping him from giving vice-president joe biden advice for his debate tomorrow night. hear the president's advice to the vice-president, coming up.
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>> greta: a world-class fight has just started between a world-famous businessman and president obama. vegas casino developer, steve wynn taking a stab at the president over jobs and the economy. listen to the knockout punch. >> i have created about 250,000 direct special indirect jobs, according to the state of nevada's measurement. that's exactly -- if the
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number's 250,000, that's exactly 250,000 more than this president, who i will be damned if i want to have him lecture me about small business and jobs. guys like me are job createsors and woe don't like a bull's-eye on our back. the president's trying to put himself gone me and my employees by class warfare, depriicating and calling a group that makes money, billionaires and millionaire who is don't pay their share. i gave 120% of my salary and bonus last year to charities, as i do most years. i can't stand the ideas of being demagogued, put down by a president who has never created any jobs and doesn't understand how the economy works. >> greta: does steve wynn have a point? overstock.com patrick burn is here. good evening. >> gret agrat to be on,. >> greta: overstock.com has over 100,000 employees.
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you are a large employers. i am curious about your thoughts on steve wynn's remarks? >> kigrade him on style or substance. where would you like me to start? >> greta: you pick. let's start with substance. >> i will go on substance. steve wynn is a smart guy, he does have a very deep understanding of the economy. i think he is a fellow who is used to -- he doesn't listen very well. he spouts a lot and expects everyone to salute. i think this is an exercise in what freud called the narcissism of petty differences. you see two people who are very much alike and you think they would like each other but they are always squabbling, that's the republican and democrats, they are much more similar than they are different. they both believe in central planning. tax policy eye listen to -- since you called this afternoon, i listened on that whole hour show. yes, on tax policy, president obama is a bit -- is a tinkerer
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and the medicare, the affordable care act is an example. 2700 pages of tinkering. you listen to steve wynn and he is talking about fixing education to tinker with the tax code and give teachers special tax rates if the students do this, tax credit for this and that. the only way to fix education is school vouchers. so to me, they are both an example of, in the london school of economics professor, talking about the tinkerers, the people who see the economy as a great big engine and they are going to go in with screw drivers and tirvegger and fine-tune. it i am afraid the democrats are guilty of haand the republicans are there. they have different constituencies they are trying to support. >> greta: all right. if we were talking a year from now and assume two hypothetical, first one, president obama is re-elected. second one, governor romney wins. a year from now, are you -- which presidency is going to
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likely -- are you likely to hire more people under? >> well that's a tough one because -- i think the right way to understand this is, you go to a dentist and you say, i have a tooth ache. he gives you novacane and you say, no, no, i have a cavity. you have a root canal. he gaves novacane. it's okay. but at some point, have you to if i can the problem. george bush started it. barack obama has given bigger doses. i don't see mitt romney -- mitt romney's probably a better dentist and knows how it manage things and probably could fix things a little bit better. but all i hear from either is various forms of bigger and bigger doses of nove novocain and not fixing the structurual, institutional problems. at a superficial level, who gave
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more novocain supported more job, but neither of them are taking the institutional reform that we need to have. >> greta: all right. five seconds. who are you voting for? you don't have to tell me. but i am curious. >> i underwrite paul. he is the only one who -- ron paul. he is the only one who understands the constitution and believes in limited government. >> greta: thank you. coming up, vice-president biden might prefer debate advice from governor romney, but he just got it from president obottom a. wait until you hear what the advice is. you will hear it from our political panel, next. in two minutes, governor chris christie at it again with a new prediction. what does he say will happen now? should anyone be worried? in t ♪
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prediction. he says the president's going to get mean and angry in the next two debates. >> he will say awful things about mitt romney and paul ryan. they are already saying that mitt romney is a liar. they are already saying that the things he said in the debate last week, weren't true. but why didn't he stop him right them? he didn't because they were true. now he is scrambling, trying to explain it. then he will start to get even meaner and nastier. this guy is going to take whatever shot he can take at mitt romney in the next four weeks and we have to be ready for it. >> greta: what do you think, will governor christie's latest prediction come true? back in 2. ♪
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>> from america's news headquarters, i'm lauren green. a worker who was trapped for 12 hours after a deadly parking
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garage garage has been freed. he is treating in an area hospital. but there is no word on his condition. the collapse killed 10 people and injured at least 8 other, no sciewn students were in the area at the time. it is not clear what caused the structure to cave in. police in colorado have yet to identify a body they found in a suburban field, close to where 12-year-old jessica ridgeway disappeared on her work to school. police believe she was abducted by an unknown suspect. investigators are testing a backpack and water bottle found 6 miles from her home to clues. the search has widened to five states as tips pour in. now back to "on the record" with "on the record with greta van susteren." he never cheated. back to greta. >> greta: republicans and comoaft democrats agree, president obama's debate performance has flopped. but that hasn't stopped him from giving advice to joe biden.
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>> what's your message to joe biden, about tomorrow night? >> well, i -- you know, i think joe needs to be joe. congressman ryan is... a smart and effective speaker. but his ideas are the wrong ones. and joe understands that. >> sean: so, should vice-president biden take his boss's advice? joining us, our political panel, michael crowley, bobcu sack john mccormick. michael, joe will be joe -- is that good advice? >> up to a point. there is good joe and bad joe. so joe needs to moderate his joe-ness. his strength is that i think he can come across as a little bit more of an every man than the president and he will go after paul ryan on the ryan plan and the budget that ryan and romney are running on, saying it favors the wealthy and it will cut medicare, a very popular entitlements program. you don't want joe doing his
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gaffe thing, getting carried away. i think he does that more often in crowd it's. >> and speeches. >> he is pretty goods in the debates and against palin last time around. >> i think there is -- it's a fascinating debate because there is no clear favorite. i could see either man winning. bide pid has the foreign policy experience. but paul ryan is on his home turf, on the big issues of the day, the economy, jobs and entitlement reform. that's what make this is so fascinating. biden has to stop the momentum from romney. romney/ryan has the momentum. it is up to joe biden. we will be looking for the gaffes. so he has to be careful. >> yeah, i don't think that's bad advice. if you look at the democratic convention, i think that joe biden did a better job of driving the message home than president obama did. we remember him saying, g.m.'s alive and bin laden's dead. if he can get memorable lines in, he will have done his job. >> greta: is more riding on vice-president biden than paul
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ryan? >> i think he needs to go back for the president and go hard on offense. i think you will see him hit really hard on the auto bailout and dha separates romny and ryan. paul ryan voted for and and mitt romney opposed it. >> greta: the president admits he had a bad night. how does he recover? >> he has a sports mentality. i think it was smart to publicly deny. you can't deny it. there is no doubt about it. i think he is champing -- chomping at the bit to go at romney. but the obama campaign of attack romney, after he won the debate. i thought that was an odd strategy because we will have to see president obama on the attack. that's what chris christie is shrewdly setting up, saying we will see the president be mean in the next debate. that's where obama has to be on the attack, but also not look too mean because he does have the likeable edge over mitt romney. he can't lose that. >> greta: how do do you that being on the attack, look
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presidential and want look mean and angry? >> it's really tough, greta. >> this is the problem. when you lose the first debate, al gore learned this in 2000. it can get in your head. he sighed too much the first time and the second time tdidn't work well. the third time, you try something else. it looks like you are trying on personas. and so you get psyched out if you don't come out of the gate with a strong performance. everybody's telling you do this, do that and they are watching so much more carefully. but you have the balance right. i think that -- i think a core problem is that his base is deflated. before he went on the debate, talking to the middle, he has to give the red meat, saying, i'm a fighter and appeal to the middle. that's a tough balance. >> greta: did he sell to you that he wanted the job, did you get sense he really want this is job? >> i didn't think so. i think the reason he doesn't have a second-term agend a. you have seen the liberal pundits notice he doesn't have a forward-looking agend a. the tax
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fund is the tax fund he rawn -- ran on four years ago. i don't think there is much to look forward to so he doesn't have much to talk about. >> the democrats are shaking their heads. there was no energy in that performance. and now, he didn't mention 47%, joe biden has to mention that, very early on. the donors, the democratic donors a concerned. there is angst on one side or the other, always. >> my core reaction was romney wanted it more. he seemed to want it more. the next couple of years, for either president might be gridlock and drudgery and not doing much. and it may seem like obama didn't want to do to it anymore. >> greta: that's the job, to rise above t. the job of the president is to navigate that. i will take the last word. stand by. national security, health care, the americans get to rate the obama administration. so did it pass or fail? see the scores next. you never know what will happen on live t. mrs. romney found
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>> greta: from health care to the economy, the voters say the obama administration -- is
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failing. the poll asking americans to rate the administration on it is big issues. and the results, a majority saying the obama administration has mostly failed on health care, the economy and jobs. now, the good grade for president obottomma was the national security. we are back with our political panel. bob, these polls -- i mean, they don't -- what are your thoughts? >> not good. he does not have a strong hand. he can still win, of course, but whether it's obamacare or the stimulus, the polls show not strong. on the u.s. image abroad, he's has taken a hit on those numbers, with the recent deadly attacks in libya. that's one of the things that the president was so proud of. he said a year ago, he was so proud that the u.s. image had been burnished and that is now a problem for him. >> greta: i thought one was improving health care. 44% say, mostly succeeded. 48% say mostly failed. that's his signature program. >> that's his signature program. i think that number should be higher. fithink if mitt romney were making a more forceful case on
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how bad the economy's been, most of obamacare hasn't kicked in. this is not just health care, but taxes -- >> greta: i think it's a sensitive area for the governor, health care. >> obviously! >> yeah. >> greta, people may say, you know, why is the race close? why are the polls showing the president's leading? a key number not in the poll, likeability o. personal likeability, we had a new number today, obama is above 50%, romney is in negative territory in a lot of polling. people seem to like the president, even though they are disappointed on his record on a range of issues. >> greta: what's the trend? is governor romney going up in likeability or down in this president going up or down, if you remember from the last polls? >> i don't know what the recent trend is. but romney has closed the gap. i mean, he was badly -- he was drowning, he has closed it and i think the president's negative numbers have been driven up, as he has been taking hits in the campaign.
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but he has been pretty steady with a likeability advantage throughout the campaign and the duration of his presidency, there has been a gap between the issues and his job approval and his personal likeability. there is a way that people are saying, we kind of like this guy, even if we don't know what he is doing. >> greta: were the people really -- if you look at the polls and say he has mostly failed improving health care and image and stimulating the economy and creating jobs, you say he's mostly failed. but they like him. >> yeah. that's what i think. i agree -- >> greta: it's almost like the congeniality award. >> i think that george bush had that over john kerry and al gore and i think the obama campaign is ride the likeability -- >> greta: which would you rather be? the one who is liked or with all of those peal polls, or the one that succeeded? >> liked. >> greta: you too? >> who do you want to have a beer with? i hate to boil it down, but if this is one thing you need to know about the election, that
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might be it. >> romney looked more likeable in the last debate. >> greta: successful. >> the issue that brought romney's likeability up, when he got serious about the taxes. i think the issues brought up his likeability. >> greta: certainly, it certainly -- he got a bounce out of this. >> by the way, the economy is the one thing, not the beer. the economy is the most important thing, i think. >> greta: panel, thank you. coming up, your last call, mrs. romney takes on morning television. but it's live tv and nothing goes as planned. see what happened next. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking,
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>> greta: 11:00 is almost here, it is time for last call, mrs. romney hosting good morning america. there were a few surprises but she rolled with the punches. >> the love of food came from my family and growing up with, this is -- with... with my -- . >> melting butter. >> yes. >> and everything is fine. everything is fine. >> every time? i don't know. flames go down. now, i'm going to catch on fire. >> someone should -- should we get rid of this? >> you never know what might happen. >> wow. >> that is your last call. we are closing down shop. thank you for being with us tonight. we'll see you tomorrow night after the vice presidential debate. first at 10:30 pchl eastern, then, again at midnight for a